Mumbai, Oct 29: Former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday filed his nomination papers as NCP candidate from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar assembly constituency in Mumbai.

The development came days after city BJP president Ashish Shelar said his party is against Malik’s candidature for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly election.

"We will not accept giving a ticket to someone linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim," Shelar had said. "We won't support Nawab Malik and will have a different stand," he had added.

“I had decided to contest as an independent if I did not get AB form from my party. I filed papers at 2.55 pm as NCP candidate,” Malik said after filing his papers.

Tuesday was the last day of filing nominations for the assembly elections.

There is no clarity yet if there has been a rethink over the stance of BJP, which shares power in the state in alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, over Malik’s candidature.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said he is not aware of “official information” on Malik filing papers as NCP nominee. “I will react when I get official information,” he added.

Malik, sitting MLA from Anushakti Nagar, has left that constituency to his daughter Sana, who is making her debut in electoral politics as NCP candidate.

Nawab Malik was a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and was arrested in 2022 in a case first registered by the NIA against Dawood and his associates including Chhota Shakeel and Tigar Memon.

Malik was granted bail on medical grounds in July this year. After the NCP split, the faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took the MLA into its fold, despite objections from ally BJP.

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Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.

The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.

"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.

The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.

There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.

Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.

The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.